Article source: MARK LANDLER, The New York Times, December 30, 2008.
The article states in part:
The United States is pressing Israel to call a cease-fire in its assault on Hamas militants in Gaza, officials said Tuesday, while enlisting Arab countries to press Hamas to do the same.Comment: I wonder how much pressure we are actually applying. Is the Bush administration threatening to stop the more than $2 billion of foreign aid it provides Israel per year, and the added assistance from other government accounts that is not added into that total. Is it threatening to stop offering tax deductions to Americans contributing billions of dollars to Israeli organizations? Is it threatening to make such donations illegal as supporting terrorist actions? Is it threatening to withdraw the trade advantages it provides to Israeli businesses seeking to export to the United States? Is it threatening to withdraw support for Israel in international fora such as the United Nations Security Council? Is it threatening to lead an international coalition to apply sanctions to Israel if it does not move toward peace? What sanctions are available to this lame duck administration, even were is willing to apply pressure.
The intensive diplomacy is being led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who made a flurry of phone calls over the last 24 hours to Israeli and Arab leaders. The goal, said a State Department spokesman, Gordon Duguid, is a “reliable cease-fire, one that is durable and sustainable.”
Does Mr. Landler suppose that the Israeli officials are not aware that there is a lame duck administration in Washington that is effectively toothless? JAD
2 comments:
If the United States wanted to apply the most effective pressure to Israel, it might threaten to withhold replacement parts and service for advanced weapons systems, to refuse sales of new weapons to Israel, and threaten to sell more advanced weapons to Israel's Arab neighbor states.
I suspect that Israeli military superiority has been largely built on the superiority of American military technology that has been supplied to it and not to its real and potential enemies.
I am not suggesting this policy, but Americans might consider how much our military assistance has contributed to Israeli militancy in Israel's negotiations with Palestinians and its neighbor states.
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